One Mystery to the Next
by ghost-of-a-scarecrow
Summary: This story is currently in a state of rewrite, so if you'd like, you can read what's here, but it's not very good.
1. Chapter 1

The room stood in darkness, silence as evident as the stars in the cloudless sky; the only source of light was the moon shining in through the blinds. The door leading in from the hall creaked slowly open; the stiff hinges loudly complaining about being disturbed so early in the morning. The room's visitor was a short, slim figure, hooded under a dark cloak that brushed the floor and wearing white gloves that could have been a scientist's. The stranger looked around. The west wall was covered with pictures, from framed and faded black and white, to more recent coloured photographs. The figure walked over to the wall and inspected the mosaic of pictures. Each displayed the same man, in some he had hair, and in the more recent it was gone. The newest pictures showed the man being embraced by three children; the eldest didn't look over the age of twelve. The figure lifted the picture off the wall to get a better look. He then put it back and turned to inspect the rest of the room. It was of an average size, a psychiatric couch sitting against the opposite wall beside an armchair. A large wooden desk stood in front of three windows covered with white blinds. The stranger headed to the windows and gazed through the blinds at the Warner Brothers water tower. He glanced back into the room for a moment, then back at the tower before turning on his heel and heading silently out of the room. The door closed softly, and the room was once again silent, dark, and just as it was before the stranger came. Only one thing in it was any different; a picture missing from the wall.


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Otto Scratchansniff entered his office happily the next morning. He had a wonderful lack of appointments with the Warners that day. He was making headway with them, at least he could get them under control in under an hour by now, but it was always good to have a break. Perhaps now he could have a day of relaxation, if none of the other stars showed up to make an appointment. Setting his briefcase down beside the old wooden desk, he opened one of the drawers and pulled out a few of the letters he'd been meaning to answer for the past week and a half. He drew a pen from his shirt pocket, took out a piece of paper, and began to write. After a few minutes, he got a bad case of writer's block. He put his elbow on the desk and rested his head on his hand. His gaze lingered on the many pictures hanging from the wall, and he zoned out for a moment. He soon thought up the right thing to write, and continued on with the letter. He then glanced back at the wall. He didn't know why, but he felt that there was something he was missing about it. He looked back down at his letter and got back to writing. A minute later he was climbing the ladder up to the Warner's water tower. He knocked on the steel door and waited.

'Who is it?' He heard Yakko's voice call from inside in an overly-pleasant tone.

'It's me, Yakko, open the door!' Scratchy called back. Yakko opened the door slightly.

'You can't be Yakko, I am,' he said.

'You know vhat I mean!'

'Maybe "You" does, but I don't,' Yakko said. Scratchy heard Wakko and Dot giggling inside.

'Look, mister, come back when you've found out who you are. Maybe you should go see the p-sychiatrist, he works in that building over there,' Yakko pointed to Scratchy's office, and then closed the door. Scratchy knocked on the door again, frustrated. Yakko opened it.

'You again? Have you figured out who you are yet?'

'Yes, I am your p-sychiatrist!'

'Oh! Well why didn't you say so? Come in, come in!' Yakko opened the door wider to let him in, and Scratchy stepped into the tower. The three Warners immediately jumped him and gave him a huge kiss.

'How ya doin', Scratchy?' Yakko said.

'Did you really miss us?' Dot asked.

'Vhy do you ask?'

'Well we didn't have an appointment,' said Wakko.

'But you came to visit us anyway,' Dot chimed in.

'I just came to ask if you know vhere the picture I had of us on the vall of my office is,' Scratchy explained.

'But we haven't been in your office today, Scratchy,' Yakko pointed out.

'And you have three pictures of us on that wall,' Dot added.

'It vas the vun that vas taken on the day you vere actually behaving.'

'That was the worst day of my life,' said Wakko miserably. At that point they all jumped back onto the floor.

'But we'll help you look for it,' Yakko offered.

'Thanks, kids,' Scratchy said, and left the tower.

'So where should we start looking?' asked Wakko. 'I don't know where it is.'

'Maybe it's still in his office,' Dot said.

'I don't know, Dot,' said Yakko. 'He'd probably have already searched there before he came here.'

'That's true. Then where do we look?'

Yakko spun on the spot, and instantly changed into a trench coat and monocle.

'Sibs, I think it's time we reprised our role as detectives. What clues do we have?' Dot and Wakko spun into their costumes. Dot took out a notepad and Wakko grabbed his gag bag from behind his back.

'We've got a missing picture, and an upset p-sychiatrist,' Dot said.

'Not much to go on, is it?' Yakko added. 'Let's get down to Scratchy's office, maybe we'll find something there.' They raced out the door, down the ladder, and across the lot in an instant.


	3. Chapter 3

A pair of large metal doors swung open into a long, ill-lit cavern. Many guards stood at attention along the walls, half hidden in darkness, but the slim, hooded figure that came through the door knew they were there. He walked quickly inside and turned right to go down a separate corridor, but was stopped by a circle of guards that placed themselves around him. They simultaneously raised their swords to his chest.

'Password?' one of the guards asked.

'Red-nosed nuisances,' said the hooded figure. The guards stepped aside and allowed him to pass. The figure walked swiftly, turning left, and then right in memorized sequence down the corridors. He came to a halt in front of a second pair of huge metal doors, but these held two plaques; the language unknown to him. He entered the room. It too was a large cavern, but well-lit with an innumerable amount of candles and several studio lights mounted on the ceiling. Two guards stood at the door he'd just walked through, and two more stood at the other end beside a silver throne. He walked down the middle of the cavern towards the throne. When he reached it, he kneeled down in front of it and waited. Moments passed before a door to his right opened, and his master stepped into the cavern.

'Greyscale, there's no need for such formalities. Come here.'

The hooded figure stood up and walked over to the man. His master was shorter than the average man, but had a large, bulbous head. His entire body apart from that head was concealed by the silvery cloak he wore.

'What news do you bring me?' he asked.

'I have brought a photograph of the children and their psychiatrist. Perhaps it will help you?' said Greyscale. He pulled the picture from underneath his cloak and handed it to his master. It was taken with utmost interest. His master inspected it with care, and also something that looked to Greyscale like loathing.

'It's of no use to me,' his master said. 'Something confuses me, Greyscale. I just don't understand it. I know everything in the world... except what these children are!'

'Why does that bother you, master?'

'I am all-knowing! I know EVERYTHING! Which is more than that Wally Llama could say for himself. I even know why hot dogs come in packages of ten, while hot dog buns come in packages of eight! But can I figure out what these kids are? NO!'

'Master...'

'I don't even know what _you_ are, Greyscale. You look exactly like this Warner boy! But you... you are of use to me, you can get close to the Warners, so I tolerate it. For now.'

'I am grateful...'

'I know you are,' his master thought for a moment. 'Bring me the Warners! We'll get the answer out of them. They ought to know what they are. But I warn you, don't let the psychiatrist know. We'll have them back to him in a matter of days... if they co-operate.'

'And if not?'

'I'll get that answer one way or another,' and with that, his master turned on his heel and left, dropping the picture on the floor. Greyscale picked up the cracked frame, and stuffed it into his cloak. He wondered for a moment why his master didn't just ask _him_ what he was; he was there most of the time. But then, he didn't know himself. It did seem like a petty reason for kidnapping the Warners, though. _There must be some other motive..._ Greyscale thought.


	4. Chapter 4

Scratchansniff sat at his desk and absentmindedly contemplated the whereabouts of the picture. It was odd, but he felt as if there was something wrong about all of this. It was just a picture, he could always take another one, but he hadn't touched that photo since he'd hung it; he couldn't have misplaced it himself. There was no one on the lot who'd take it, or even want it for that matter. He tried to get back to the letter, but the thought kept nagging.

Suddenly, to his surprise, the Warners jumped out of the water glass and onto his desk. He reeled backwards and fell out of his chair. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot looked down at him with amusement.

'Hey, Scratchy,' Yakko said. 'We thought we'd come over and look for clues.'

'Kids, it's not that important,' Scratchy said.

'It'll only take a minute,' Dot said innocently. 'Wakko...' she pointed at him. They all hopped off the desk and Wakko got out his gag bag.

'Wakko, I'd like you to put everything that isn't a clue into that bag,' Yakko instructed. Wakko reached up and stuffed the entire room into the bag. Nothing remained but Scratchansniff and the Warners.

'Sorry, Scratchy, there's nothing here,' said Yakko. 'Literally.'

'We can't look for something lost without any clues,' Wakko said. He pulled the room back out of his gag bag and put it back. Scratchansniff was still dazed from the experience of sitting on nothing.

'It's all right kids, let's just forget about it, okay?' he said. They nodded and spun back into their normal clothes. 'Now vhy don't you go back outside and have some fun,' he added hopefully.

'In other words, you want us to leave you alone, right?' Dot asked.

'Vell, yes.'

'Okay!' Wakko and Dot ran out in an instant, but Yakko lagged behind.

'Uh, Scratchy?' he asked hesitantly.

'Vhat is it, Yakko?'

'Ehhhh... nah, it's silly.'

'It's my job to listen to silly things.'

'Well, I just got this funny feeling. That something's wrong, you know?'

'That something bad is going to happen?'

'Yes.'

'Don't vorry about it, Yakko. It's probably nothing more than a feeling.' Yakko nodded, but didn't look convinced.

'Okay, thanks Scratchy.' Yakko turned and ran outside to join his siblings. Scratchy watched him leave and heard them start a game on the lot. So he wasn't the only one feeling that way. He sat back down at his desk and zoned out. He looked around the room for an idea of what he was doing before the Warners had so promptly arrived. He jumped back and stifled a scream. The picture was back on the wall. He ran outside and called the Warners back in.

'That _is_ weird,' Dot said after inspecting the picture. 'Look, the frame's cracked.'

Wakko was sitting on the psychiatric couch with Scratchansniff while Dot looked at the picture. Yakko was leaning against the wall beside them. He walked over to Dot and she held the picture out to him. He looked it over. Part of the wooden frame was cracked, along with the glass. One corner of the frame was chipped.

'Looks like it's been dropped,' he said, and handed it to Scratchansniff to look over.

'Oh, vell,' Scratchy said shakily. 'It's back now, so... so let's just...'

'Forget it?' Wakko asked.

'Yeah.'


	5. Chapter 5

The picture remained absent from anyone's minds for the longest time. In fact, Scratchy had taken it from the wall, hidden it in the bottom drawer of his desk, and put up a new one. He could hardly tell the difference, and so it was forgotten. Summer came and went, as did fall, and the Warners caused havoc throughout the studio with enthusiasm. Winter arrived, and snow fell from the sky to blanket the ground.

'Why's it snowing?' Dot asked. 'We live in Burbank!'

'It's convenient for the story,' Yakko answered.

'Who cares, let's have a snow ball fight!' Wakko said excitedly. He picked up a pile of snow and patted it into a ball. Aiming, he hit Dot square in the face with it. Seconds later, all three were engaged in a full-fledged snow ball war. Scratchansniff had the misfortune of walking right into it. When they finished their game, a snowman stood in front of the tower. They walked up to it and Wakko poked it.

'Faboo,' he said. Scratchy shook off the snow and put his arms around himself.

'Hey, Scratchy. What are you doin' in the snow without a coat?' Yakko said.

'I could ask you the same thing,' Scratchy said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

'We have fur,' said Yakko.

'Vell, I came out to tell you something important, so if you could sit still and listen...' Scratchy said. The Warners sat down and perked up their ears, looking at him expectantly.

'Right,' he continued. 'I came out to tell you that Pinky and Brain have gone missing. They didn't come back from their last mission to take over the vorld.'

'Hey, how do you know that's where they go?' Dot asked suspiciously.

'Yeah,' said Yakko. 'Even the scientists at ACME Labs couldn't figure that one out.'

'I am their p-sychiatrist too, you know,' Scratchy answered.

'Where did they go last night?' Yakko asked.

'They vent out to Lateman's Gorge.'

'We should go look for them,' Dot said. 'The Lateman's Gorge isn't that far.'

'They could've fallen in,' Yakko said with a note of worry in his voice.

'Maybe the conveniently fallen snow padded their landing if they did,' Wakko suggested half-heartedly. The three of them looked at each other, then jumped up and pushed Scratchansniff towards the car.

An hour later, they were standing at the top of Lateman's Gorge looking down. They had already searched along the crest of most of the gorge, but hadn't found anything.

'Why do they call it Lateman's Gorge?' Wakko asked as he knelt down to look over the edge. Yakko joined him.

'Because if you fall in, you'll be late,' Dot answered.

'Late?'

'As in the late Wakko Warner,' Yakko said. Yakko and Wakko moved to stand up. The ground beneath them started shaking. Yakko looked down and felt his stomach flip. The side of the gorge was giving way under their feet. Dot tried to run forward to help, but Scratchy caught her arm and held her back. Fear passed over all the Warners faces simultaniously as the eldest instinctively grabbed for the ledge, but Wakko kept falling. Yakko caught his hand as he fell past. He could feel a searing pain in the arm that held his unconscious brother, but he put it out of his mind. Scratchy let go of Dot and she ran forward; grasping Yakko's wrist and trying to pull her siblings up, but their combined weight was too much. Yakko clenched his teeth and started pulling his brother up to the ledge. Scratchy leapt forward and pulled Wakko over the top, setting him down a safe distance from the edge. Yakko was hauling himself up with the help of Dot when he felt something grab his leg. Whatever it was had an iron grip on his ankle. He held on to the side of the gorge with all his strength, the pain in his arm fighting its way back into his mind as he gritted his teeth against it. Dot was clutching his wrists, and Scratchy came to help, but they were being pulled closer to the side despite their efforts as Yakko lost his hold.

'Let go,' Yakko said quietly.

'What?' Dot looked at him like he was crazy.

'Let go.'

'No! I'm not letting go!' Dot pulled harder, but was still slowly approaching the side. Yakko looked up at Scratchy pleadingly. After a moment's hesitation, Scratchy let go of his arm and grabbed Dot around her waist. Yakko pried her hands from his other arm and disappeared into the gorge. Dot and Scratchy fell backwards into the snow. She struggled out of his grip and crawled drunkenly back to the edge, tears streaming down her face.

Wakko awoke a few minutes later, rubbing the bump on his head groggily. He looked from Scratchy to Dot, who was sitting quietly at the side of the gorge.

'Where is he?' Wakko asked. Scratchy turned around to look at him, then pointed to the bottom of Lateman's Gorge.


	6. Chapter 6

Yakko slowly opened his eyes, and the pain hit him harder than a brick. It took him a moment to realize where he was; even longer to figure out if he was alive or not. He tried to pinpoint where it hurt the most, but he decided it was a futile task. His whole body ached. He tried to sit up, but let out a small yelp and fell back down. He'd found out where it hurt the most. His leg from the knee down was folded under him; the snow had broken his fall, but it had also broken his bones. He grabbed his upper leg and braced himself, pulling it towards his chest. He reached over and gently straightened the broken part with one hand and laid it back down in the snow. Staring blankly up at the sky, a thought slowly formed in his head. He was a toon, how in the world was his leg broken? The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow met his ears, and he lifted his head to see a hooded stranger accompanied by a large tiger-looking toon walking towards him.

Back on top of the gorge, Dot was still sitting at the edge. She'd stopped crying, but hadn't said anything for the past half-hour. Wakko was talking to Scratchansniff.

'It felt so real,' Wakko said. 'It was as if I fell I actually wouldn't have made it out alive.'

'I think we've all been feeling that vay lately,' Scratchy agreed, looking over to Dot. 'There's something very wrong vith all of this.'

'It's like somebody's messing with reality,' said Wakko.

'At least with ours,' Dot said softly. It was the first thing she'd said in a while, and her throat felt dry. She'd felt the change, just as Yakko had, and Wakko. They'd talked about it the night before in the water tower. If not for that feeling, they wouldn't have worried about Pinky and Brain falling into the gorge, the two of them would've just climbed back out again unscathed. Now it was obvious to her that they weren't going to, and neither was Yakko.

Wakko crawled over and sat down beside her. He looked down to the bottom of the gorge, and instantly wished he hadn't. His older brother was lying motionless at the bottom. He snapped his head back up as a tear escaped his eye. He took off his hat and started wringing it in his hands. Scratchy joined them.

'Look,' he said, and pointed downwards.

'We know, he's dead,' Dot said, suddenly angry.

'No, look,' Scratchy insisted. Wakko looked into the gorge, and scrambled onto all fours.

'Dot, look!' He said, pointing. Wakko convinced her. She looked down. She jumped onto all fours just as Wakko did, and started wagging her tail. Yakko was trying to sit up. He was alive! She watched as he pulled his leg out from under himself, it must have gotten broken.

'We have to get down there!' she said excitedly.

'There's a section over there that isn't as steep,' Scratchy said. Wakko and Dot leapt to their feet and started pushing him in the direction he had indicated.

Scratchy, Dot and Wakko reached the bottom of the Lateman's Gorge without much difficulty. It started to snow as they walked back to where Yakko had fallen, the small white flakes sparkling in the light from the setting sun. They reached the spot in record time, now that they were travelling on flatter ground, but once they got there, they found nothing. Yakko was gone. The entire area was covered in snowy footprints, and they could plainly see the spot that Yakko had landed, but he wasn't there. Only a couple drops of blood and the eldest Warner's right glove remained. Wakko picked up the glove and held it close to his chest.

'What happened?' Dot asked. 'Where did he go?'

'I-I don't know,' said Scratchy, just as astonished. They walked on in the feeble hope that Yakko had gotten up and somehow walked away, but they eventually ended up returning to the same spot.

'Dr. Scratchansniff?'

'Yes, Wakko?'

'I didn't say anything,' Wakko said. Scratchy looked around for the source of the voice. It couldn't have been Dot.

'Scratchansniff, is that you? _Narf_.'

'Pinky?' Scratchy, Dot and Wakko said in unison.


	7. Chapter 7

Pinky emerged from a small hole in the wall of the gorge, and sneezed as the snow fell on his nose. He was holding his left arm to his side.

'What are you doing here?' Pinky asked.

'Ve could ask you the same thing,' said Scratchy.

'Me and Brain was walking on the top of the cliff, when we fell through a hole in that wire mesh.' Pinky pointed upwards. 'We both got conked out for a while, I guess I was out too long, _zort_, 'cause Brain left without me.'

'Vait, vhat do you mean, vire mesh?'

'Oh, is that what it's called? I always thought it was called _wire_ mesh, but then Brain always did say I have the IQ of a doughnut. Or was it a peanut? _Narf_.' Pinky said. Wakko and Dot looked at each other.

'No, he means _wire_,' Dot said.

'He's just got a funny accent,' Wakko added.

'Oh... what was the question, again?'

'Vhat's all this about vire mesh?'

'The whole section of cliff here is lined with it,' Pinky said. 'Sticking out about a few yards from the real cliff face, _troz_, and covered with snow.'

'That must have been what happened when you and Yakko fell,' Dot said to Wakko. 'The wire gave way.'

'Sounds like it vas a trap,' Scratchy added. 'Did you say Brain vas gone vhen you voke up?' Pinky nodded.

'Did you see what happened to Yakko?' Wakko asked, still holding on to his brother's glove. Pinky looked at him apologetically.

'No, sorry,' He said. '_Poit_, but I heard a lot of talking.'

'What did you hear?'

'I can't remember exactly, but they talked a lot about colour schemes.'

'What?' said Wakko.

'Well, one of them kept saying greyscale, _narf_.'

'Vhy does that sound familiar?' Scratchy asked, more to himself than the other three. 'Kids, I don't think we should go back to the Varner lot until ve find out vhat is going on.'

'Why?' Dot and Wakko asked, as Dot reached up so Pinky could step out onto her palm.

'Vell, if whoever took Yakko also took Brain, who says that they aren't looking for you, too?'

'_Poit,_ where are we going to go?'

'We could go to the Run Away house.' Dot suggested hesitantly.

'Vhat is that?' Scratchy asked. Wakko burrowed his toe in the snow nervously. Scratchy wasn't supposed to find out about the Run Away house. No one was.

'When we were younger,' he said, 'we told Yakko that we wanted to run away from the studio. When he asked us why, we said it was because we didn't like Mr. Plotz, he was mean.'

'So Yakko went to Slappy and asked her to help him build a small house somewhere outside the studio. Somewhere that the three of us could run away to if we ever needed a break from anybody.' Dot continued. 'We haven't been there in a while, but it still has full cupboards.'

'And I'm hungry,' said Wakko, his tongue sticking out. On that note, they decided that it would be the best place to stay, and started walking.


	8. Chapter 8

Yakko came to with a massive headache and a strange taste residing in his mouth. His first thought was the question of how many times he could get knocked out in one day. His second was that his broken leg had gone numb. It took him a while to realize that he wasn't touching the ground, but was instead curled up in a net that was slung over the tiger's shoulder. The tiger and his companion were deep in discussion as they walked along the bottom of the gorge.

'...shouldn't have used so much chloroform, Malice,' the hooded stranger said to the tiger. 'A dose like that could've killed him!'

'I still don't see why you won't just let me kill it,' the bipedal tiger growled. Yakko's heart jumped. He hoped the hooded stranger had control over his companion.

'The master wants him alive! He has to tell us where his siblings are, now that _you_ have so cleverly lost their trail!'

'Your master doesn't scare me,' Malice said. 'He hired me to do a job, and I want to finish it!'

'Your job was to capture the Warners, and to remain in my master's employ until you were paid, not to kill them! You have already failed in that you only have one!' The hooded stranger pointed in Yakko's direction. The tiger growled slightly, but continued to walk in silence for the next hour.

Yakko's neck was sore, and his arms were beginning to cramp up. He twisted his head to the side slightly, not enough for Malice to notice the movement, but enough to make his neck feel better. As he looked to the sky, he lost himself in thought. What was going on? There were so many questions that had yet to be answered. Malice was obviously a hired bounty hunter, and he'd figured out who the hooded one was a half hour ago; the way he talked and the determined gait he walked with gave him away. That answered who, but not what and why. Yakko had a bad feeling about it, though, and he was thankful that his siblings hadn't been caught. He knew they could take care of themselves, but not even he could talk his way out of this one. He just hoped they'd find the note he'd left them.

The sides of the gorge began to get steadily closer together. He had no way of knowing where they were taking him, but he felt sure that he wasn't going to like it.

The tiger stopped, and Yakko heard the creaking of what sounded like very large doors. As his captors passed through them, he found out that they were, in fact, _very_ large doors. He wondered why no one had noticed them before. He then assumed that there must have been a waterfall in front of them during the warmer months. Behind the doors was a poorly-lit large cavern, where he could barely make out an armada of guards lining the walls. They stood so still, he couldn't really tell if they were statues or not; until, of course, a handful of them surrounded the three visitors.

'Password?' One of them asked gruffly.

'Red-nosed nuisances,' the hooded figure answered. Yakko rolled his eyes. That cinched it. He definitely wasn't going to like this place. The tiger and the hooded stranger continued down several corridors, as Yakko attempted to memorize the way out. He heard another pair of doors open, and the blinding light from the room did nothing for his headache. He noticed several studio lights on the ceiling. Whoever decorated this place obviously had a flair for the dramatic. Suddenly, he was hauled over Malice's shoulder and flung painfully to the ground in front of the two kidnappers. He propped himself up on his elbows, and almost smiled at the surprise on the tiger's face. He obviously hadn't been expecting Yakko to be awake.

'You... _pest_, oh you little imp!' said a voice from behind him. Yakko tilted his head back.

'No. Me... Yakko. If you want Pesto, talk to the Goodfeathers,' Yakko said as he rolled onto his stomach. The silver-clad man had the biggest head Yakko had ever seen, and a face that looked slightly taken aback at Yakko's apparent lack of fear.

'Do you know who I am!' The big-headed man yelled. Yakko propped his head up on his hands. He knew the man's name; he'd heard the hooded figure mention it before they chloroformed him. But, of course, he wasn't going to make this conversation easy for the man who had had him imprisoned in a net for hours, and probably wasn't going to let him go any time soon.

'You mean to tell me,' he said, '...that you brought me all the way here from my comfy little spot in the snow just to play a guessing game?' The man's face went from pink to red.

'Okay, okay, if you really want me to guess,' he continued. 'Is it, ehhhhh, Tomato-face?' One of the guards that stood by the master snickered. The master shot him an angry look.

'I am Achilles Psyche!' The master announced.

'Does Achilles know that?' Yakko said calmly. That seemed to be too much for the beet-red master. Psyche angrily motioned to Malice; the tiger walked up and brought his foot down viciously hard on Yakko's broken leg. The boy yelped and shut his eyes, biting down on his fingers to keep from swearing.

'Where are the other two, Greyscale?' Psyche snapped at the hooded figure.

'We almost had two of them, but this one,' Greyscale said pointing at Yakko, '...pulled his brother back up the gorge.' Yakko shot him a murderous look.

'So where are they?'

'We lost their trail.'

'You IDIOTS!' Psyche bellowed. 'I give you a simple task and you can't even carry it out! But never you mind... we'll get this little _joker_ to tell us where they are...' Psyche lowered his voice to a growl and knelt down in front of Yakko, '...so that I can finally, after years of waiting, have revenge.' Yakko looked back up at the man, now angry.

'Now it's _your_ turn to guess, Tomato-head,' he said quietly, the resentment evident in his voice.

'No, you'll tell me. With the right incentive...' said Psyche. He motioned to a couple of the guards, who walked up on either side of Yakko, pointing their swords at his back.

'Not impressed,' Yakko said.

'MALICE, THROW HIM IN THE CELL!' Psyche yelled, straightening up, his patience at its end. Malice grabbed Yakko roughly by the scruff of his neck, and carried him out of the cavern. Yakko did nothing. He hung rigid in the tiger's grip as Malice walked down a corridor to the right of the large cavern, opened a steel door, and threw him inside. He hit the rough stone wall opposite, and fell to the floor without a peep. It wasn't until Malice had locked the door and walked back down the corridor that he shakily hauled himself up to a sitting position and muttered,

'Jerks...'

Malice re-entered the large, studio-lit cavern. The guards had been dismissed, and Greyscale and Psyche were arguing; neither noticed him come in. He listened to their conversation without interest; the only thing that interested him was hunting. Unfortunately, he was stuck with this tedious job. He stood leaning against the cavern wall, invisible to the two arguers.

'Why didn't you tell me that this was all about a grudge? I thought you were smarter than to lie to me!' Greyscale said angrily.

'I had to be sure you would do the job! You are one of them; I needed to make certain that you wouldn't double-cross me. You might have if you knew my true intentions,' Psyche said in return.

'You should know me better. I want them as much as you do.'

'If that's so, why don't you do the honours?'

'Gladly.' Greyscale stormed off in Malice's direction. When he got close, Malice stopped him, now interested.

'What was all that?' he asked.

'He lied about the reason he wanted the Warners captured. Now he tells me he wants revenge, but he needs the rest of them,' Greyscale said, as he walked down the same corridor that Malice had just come from. The tiger followed. They arrived at the cell door, and Greyscale lifted a whip from the wall beside it.

'And I'm going to find out where they are,' he said, and went inside.


	9. Chapter 9

Wakko opened the screen door of the small cabin. The sun had set fifteen minutes ago, and everyone was tired. The Run Away house had always reminded him of a cottage, and as he stepped inside, the room still smelled like the mothballs that the three Warners had smothered the place with the last time they'd stayed there. Wakko didn't mind the smell, and neither did his siblings, but it seemed to drive everyone else who smelled it crazy, so they used it as sort of a defence mechanism. The kitchen was to the right of the door, as was the door to the only other room; the living room. Three beds sat in the far left corner, each with a small wooden plaque stating whose each bed was. The large wooden table stood in the middle of the main room, and Wakko was so exhausted he nearly ran into it. Scratchy entered after him, plugging his nose, followed by Dot with Pinky curled up in her hand.

'What is that _delightful_ smell? _Narf_,' Pinky asked, sitting up and stretching.

'I don't vant to know,' Scratchy said.

Wakko found his way over to the old wooden cupboards and pulled out several bags of chips, swallowing them all, packaging and everything. Dot walked over to one of the beds on the far side of the room and collapsed wearily without a word. Pinky jumped out of her hand and found a comfortable place beside the pillow, holding his injured arm close. Wakko stumbled sleepily over to his own bed, tongue sticking out, and curled up on it in a ball. He watched quietly as Scratchy sat down on the floor against the wall, slowly nodding off.

'You can sleep in Yakko's bed if you want,' he said quietly. Scratchy looked up and shook his head. Wakko got out of his own bed and crawled into his brother's.

'You can sleep in mine,' he offered. Scratchy sighed and almost smiled, but still shook his head. Wakko could see the smell of moth balls was bothering him. He pulled the brown sheets over his shoulders and left the p-sychiatrist alone.

Rolling on to his back, he stared blankly up at the ceiling, Yakko's glove still clenched firmly in his hand. Where was his brother? What if he was dead? No, Wakko refused to think that. Yakko wouldn't just die. Maybe he was kidnapped? That seemed pretty obvious now that he thought about it. He comforted himself with the knowledge that his brother could talk his way out of anything. Almost. Wakko lifted the glove so he could see it. For no real reason, he took off his own right glove and replaced it with Yakko's. It was too big for his hand, but he found it somehow comforting. A few minutes later, he was fast asleep.

Scratchansniff was slowly drifting off into dreamland against the wall. The smell of mothballs filled his nose, and he would have slept outside if not for the cold and the feeling that he owed it to Yakko to look after the boy's siblings. If he hadn't told them about Pinky and Brain's disappearance, the eldest sibling wouldn't be missing. Then again, they wouldn't have found Pinky. But where was Brain?

He heard Wakko shift in his sleep, and wondered what he and Dot were thinking. Under normal circumstances, he was sure that none of them would be worrying so much, since cartoons can't _really_ get hurt. But that was changing, it was obvious. The question was, why? With that thought swimming around in his head, he nodded off to sleep.

Lying with his back to the stone wall of the cell, Yakko tried in vain to at least rest his eyes. He already had a fever, and his leg had swollen considerably; the cold and the dampness of the caverns weren't doing much for him. A solitary lamp burned by the door, but deep shadows still crept up the rough walls and froze the spongy stone into a solid mass of ice. The only reason he knew it was night was that the constant visits from Greyscale, Malice, and various guards had stopped. He preferred the visits from the guards. He'd figured out that they weren't given the privilege of actually beating him, but were only allowed to try to intimidate an answer out of him. Greyscale and Malice were different.

Only minutes after he was thrown in the cell, Greyscale had had Malice tie Yakko's wrists to two metal rings that jutted out from the wall. He'd then proceeded to whip him. His back still stung. Later, Malice had returned, and had nearly crushed his wrist trying to get him to tell where his siblings were. He would never tell. Never. He knew that it was the only reason he was still alive. He also knew that if he did give them away, Psyche would put his siblings through the exact same thing, and then kill them. He was certain that death was now a possibility for cartoons. He was also certain that Psyche was behind it all. He just had to figure out how he was doing it. And why did he want _them_?

It was impossible to sleep. He hauled himself up to a sitting position, gritting his teeth against the pain, and leaned against the ice-cold wall. Its numbing cold felt good on his back. He rubbed his eyes with his gloved hand. His ear caught a slight noise. It was the softest footstep he'd ever heard. He was surprised he'd heard it at all. At first he thought it was coming from the door, but then he realized it was already in the room.

'Brain?' he asked cautiously. Brain emerged from a shadowed crevice in the wall.

'Yakko? Why are you here?' the mouse asked, hopping onto the rocky floor of the cell.

'No idea. Why are you here?'

'Pinky and I fell into Lateman's Gorge. I've no clue as to what happened to Pinky, but I was captured and transported here. Like you, I don't know why, but I hid myself within the walls until they assumed I had escaped. Have you seen Pinky?'

'Sorry.' Yakko shook his head.

'Oh well, he probably made it back to the studio. There's not another cell in the place.'

'Do you know why?'

'Psyche refrains from keeping prisoners for a vast amount of time.' Brain said.

'How old-fashioned.' Yakko shifted away from the wall. His back was cold enough to preserve his body for a year. He winced slightly at the movement. Brain looked at him, concerned. He walked over to Yakko and sat down beside him.

'You should be resting,' he said.

'I did,' Yakko answered. Brain didn't pry. Yakko put his hand on the ground so Brain could climb onto it. The mouse probably hadn't had a soft place to sleep in a couple of days. His glove would have to do.

Brain was snoozing on his palm almost immediately, but it took Yakko a couple of hours to finally fall into a light, fitful sleep.


End file.
